Thursday, March 24, 2011

Kudos to Baltimore Orioles centerfielder Adam Jones for stating the obvious and the truth. I love the candor he speaks with the "just knock the shit out of them" in regards to the obnoxious Yankees and Red Sox fans who come into Camden Yards and act like it is their home park. If you have a problem with what Adam has to say then too bad. Orioles fans need to take back the yard this spring. And by take back I mean knock the shit out of any drunk Yankees fan who starts talking shit about the Orioles in your homepark.

This might be the greatest rap song about the Mighty Ducks. There are others you are wondering? I have no fucking clue. What I do know is I never watched one of the Mighty Ducks movies. I leave the hockey movies to those eskimos up in Canada.

UCONN vs. San Diego St (Pick Em)I managed to watch San Diego State for only the 2nd time all season last week. Holy shit what a boring team they have. I know all they do is win but they don't have one guy on their team that scares me. The Huskies on the other hand have the great Kemba Walker and they have an inside presence in Alex Oriakhi. In terms of talent and coaching I got to take the Huskies in this pick em game.

Prediction: UCONN 72 San Diego St 64

Florida (-2.5) vs. BYULast year these two teams met in the first round and BYU won a thrilling 99-92 game in double OT. One can only hope this year this sweet 16 battle lives up to those standards. Everybody knows about Jimmer. He will win the Naismith and we will never hear from him again after his college career is done. Hey I'm not a hater. I like Jimmer. But this will be his last game. BYU doesn't have the size in the front court especially without Brandon Davies to bang with the Gators. The Gators are a sleeper team this year to win the whole thing despite their 2 National Championships under Billy Donovan. The Gators also have better coaching and better talent. I know it sounds like a broken record but unless Jimmer goes for 40 plus (which wouldn't surprise me) I see the Gators handling this game rather easily.

Prediction: Florida 66 BYU 59

Arizona (+9) vs. DukeI texted my Dad last week saying Arizona's Derrick Williams might be the best player in the college game and could be the #1 pick in the NBA next season. His response was "been watching VCU." In Dad terms that is a "I'm going to ignore your ridiculous statement." Of course Williams went on to have one of his worst games of the season vs Texas but he still managed to hit a clutch 3 pt play with the game on the line. Plus Williams had the game winning block vs. Memphis in the first round. Williams led the nation in free throw attempts as he loves to drive to the hoop and create scoring opportunities from the free throw line. He will be guarded by James Bond villain Kyle Singler. Singler will pull the usual Duke flopping bull shit that Coach K teaches and yet somehow the officials still haven't caught on that it's not an offensive foul when you breath on a Duke defender and he topples faster than the housing market. I'm not a Duke fan for obvious reasons (I have a functional cock) but I think the Dukies win this game in a close battle. The Duke back court is better than Zona's and Nolan Smith will have a solid second half. I'm still taking Zona to beat the spread though.

Prediction: Duke 77 Arizona 72

Here are some highlights of Derrick Williams just because I want to prove to my Dad he is the best player in the college game...

And here is a little Blake Griffin-esque dunk...

Butler (+4.5) vs. WisconsinSeriously how in the holy fuck is Butler an underdog in this game? Is Vegas still not believers in the Bulldogs? Last year's Cinderella used some of that magic to beat Pitt last week in a downright brutal officiated game. For some reason I have never liked Wisconsin. I don't know what it is. I think the people are great and cheerful but for some reason the Badgers have always pissed me off. Maybe I'm letting my college football bias get in the way here. I'm also in love with Butler coach Brad Stevens. On the other hand the sight of Wisconsin's Bo Ryan makes me want to straight stomp on his man region. His face just pisses me off. He's a close second to Kansas State's Frank Martin in guys "I wouldn't mind dropping from the face of the earth just at the way they act on the sidelines." Anyways enough about my rage issues. Butler has made me good money the past two years. I'm not about to jump off their bandwagon especially as an underdog.

I love me some Gus Johnson. He needs to be doing college football this fall. Fuck Verne Lundquist and Gary Danielson. They suck. I want Gus Johnson doing SEC Football this fall. He's already on CBS and his talents will be wasted with the NFL Lockout.

Orioles manager Buck Showalter isn't worried about ruffling the feathers of his AL East rivals in the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. The second year Baltimore skipper had some choice words for both Derek Jeter and Boston GM Theo Epstein.

"The first time we went to Yankee Stadium, I screamed at Derek Jeter from the dugout," said Showalter. "Our guys are thinking, 'Wow, he's screaming at Derek Jeter.' Well, he's always jumping back from balls just off the plate. I know how many calls that team gets -- and yes, he [ticks] me off."

While Jeter is the poster boy for everything that is good and right to the baseball world Showalter is basically kicking some dirt into his holy water. Anybody remember Jeter faking the hit by pitch last season? No well then let me refresh your memory...

Personally I love what Showalter is doing. Jeter is all over the plate and gets a shitload of walks by his leaning over the plate and acting like the inside strike is in fact off the plate. Showalter is already getting into not only Jeter's head but the umps around the majors. Plus he is providing a confidence boost to his own Orioles in the fact that they are not going to back down to the almighty Yankees. The Orioles have needed an attitude change as much as they have needed an ownership change. 13 straight losing seasons is a testament to this ideology. At least Showalter has the cojones to fight and it has already permeated to his young ball club (.600 win percentage in the 57 games he coached last year, best among the AL East teams).

Where I tend to disagree with Showalter is his words on Epstein:

"I'd like to see how smart Theo Epstein is with the Tampa Bay payroll," Showalter said. "You got Carl Crawford 'cause you paid more than anyone else, and that's what makes you smarter? That's why I like whipping their butt. It's great, knowing those guys with the $205 million payroll are saying, 'How the hell are they beating us?'"

Epstein isn't Brian Cashman. The Red Sox do have a ridiculous payroll like the Yankees and in many ways they are the Yankees Jr. in the way they operate. But Epstein at the very least has developed a strong minor league feeder system for the Red Sox organization and is one of the main reasons why they were able to trade for a slugger like Adrian Gonzalez without completely diminishing the farm.

I do like Buck's fighting words though. It's a good attitude to spread to not only his ballclub but to the fanbase of Baltimore. The Orioles beat the Red Sox last year despite having a payroll that is essentially less than half. If the team can win on the field there is no reason why the fans shouldn't start showing up this season and rooting for the home team while drowning out the bandwagon Sox and Yankees fans. Showalter, as a former ESPN media member, knew exactly what his words would do. They would be quickly spread amongst the media and blogs and turned into fighting words.

"Buck yeah!" should be the Orioles team motto this season. With the additions of sluggers Vladimir Guerrero, Mark Reynolds, Derrek Lee, and J.J. Hardy to the everyday lineup the Orioles should have plenty of firepower to back up Buck's words. Now it's a matter of time for the young pitching staff (Brian Matusz, Jake Arrieta, Chris Tillman, and Zach Britton) to come together and turn around the misfortune of the Baltimore Orioles franchise. It's about "Buck"ing time!